Method and apparatus for the production of performic acid

A catalytic distillation process for production of performic acid, comprising:

• feeding aqueous solutions of formic acid and an oxidizing agent under controlled flow rates into a catalytic distillation column containing one or more reaction zones, said one or more reaction zones including one or more heterogeneous catalysts immobilized in said one or more reactive zones, where said one or more heterogeneous catalysts are solid acid catalysts with Hammet acidity (H0) less than 0;
• said column being operated at sub atmospheric pressure and preselected temperature such that the oxidizing agent and formic acid are introduced in the one or more reaction zones and undergo a reaction to produce performic acid and reaction by products;
• wherein performic acid enriched vapors flow upwards within the column and a liquid enriched in unreacted formic acid, unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products descend downwards within the column;
• and
• withdrawing some or all of a performic acid enriched product stream from a condenser located at the top of the column to create a performic acid rich distillate product stream, for point of use application, optionally cooling the performic acid rich distillate product stream and optionally storing the performic acid rich distillate product stream, and optionally withdrawing a proportion of unreacted formic acid, unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products from a reboiler located at the bottom of the column.

A catalytic distillation process for production of performic acid, comprising:

• feeding aqueous solutions of formic acid and an oxidizing agent under controlled flow rates into a catalytic distillation column containing one or more reaction zones, said one or more reaction zones including one or more heterogeneous catalysts immobilized in said one or more reaction zones, where said one or more heterogeneous catalysts exhibit basic sites and have a Hammet basicity greater than 0;
• said column being operated at sub atmospheric pressure and preselected temperature such that the oxidizing agent and formic acid are introduced to the one or more reaction zones and undergo a reaction to produce performic acid and reaction by-products;
• wherein a performic acid enriched liquid product containing some unreacted oxidizing agent flows downwards within the column and wherein a vapor phase containing unreacted formic acid, some unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products rise up within the column to a condenser located at the top of the column;
• and
• withdrawing the vapor phase containing the unreacted formic acid, some unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products from a condenser located at the top of the column, and returning some or all of the condensed distillate back to the CD column as reflux, and withdrawing the performic acid enriched liquid product at or near the bottom of the column to create a performic acid rich bottoms product stream, optionally cooling the performic acid rich bottoms product stream and optionally storing the cooled performic acid rich bottoms product stream.

A catalytic distillation process for production of performic acid, comprising:

• feeding aqueous solutions of formic acid and an oxidizing agent under controlled flow rates into a catalytic distillation column containing one or more reaction zones, said one or more reaction zones including one or more heterogeneous catalysts immobilized in said one or more reactive zones, where said on or more heterogeneous catalysts exhibit basic sites and have a Hammet basicity greater than 0;
• said column being operated at sub atmospheric pressure and preselected temperature such that the oxidizing agent and formic acid are introduced in the one or more reaction zones and undergo a reaction to produce performic acid and reaction by products;
• wherein performic acid enriched vapors flow upwards within the column and a liquid enriched in unreacted formic acid, unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products descend downwards within the column;
• and
• withdrawing some or all of a performic acid enriched product stream from a condenser located at the top of the column to create a performic acid rich distillate product stream, for point of use application, optionally cooling the performic acid rich distillate product stream and optionally storing the performic acid rich distillate product stream, and optionally withdrawing a proportion of unreacted formic acid, unreacted oxidizing agent and reaction products from a reboiler located at the bottom of the column.